Monday, October 17, 2011

An oldie but goodie, this necklace has been around the world with me a couple of times and consistently demonstrates oddly magical properties. No matter where I wear it, whether Nairobi, Samoa, Sri Lanka or Salt Lake, small children in the vicinity are lured in, climb up onto my lap, and start playing with the necklace. When I first made it, the juxtaposition of pigs and babies made sense to me and apparently it makes perfect sense to the under-four set also. Stay tuned for the "how-to-make."

Baby and piggy charms from little plastic figures collected here and there. Somehow a little elephant snuck into the mix.

As worn

Make: Tips on how to make something like this out of most any plastic figure (try the bins at children's toy stores or go to a party supply store).

Step One: Hold a straight pin with a set of needle-nose pliers and place it over a candle flame until it is really hot. Jam the pin into a likely spot on the plastic figurine, using brute strength as necessary.

Pin jammed into back of baby's head

Step Two: Snip off the pointy end of the needle with a pair of wire cutters, leaving enough of the pin projecting out of the figure to form a loop. Use needle nose pliers to grip the pin and twist it into a loop.

Loop formed from straight pin

Voila! You now have a charm ready to hang from any chain. Piece together chains or sections of chain to form a double-loop necklace.